Fame & Fortune: Health scare failed to sink top rower

A collapsed lung meant Alex Partridge missed the Olympics last year  but he still doubled his income. By Natalie Graham

THIS weekend Alex Partridge, one of Britain’s top oarsmen, has been competing in the GB National Team Trials in Hazewinkel in Belgium. The event is in preparation for the year’s first World Cup regatta at Dorney Lake, near Windsor, next month.

In April of last year Partridge won the men’s pairs at the GB National Team trials with Andrew Hodge. As a result, he was selected for the British rowing team’s lead boat in the Athens Olympic Games with Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell and Steve Williams.

Two months later Partridge suffered a collapsed lung and faced months of medical treatment. His Olympic dream had to go on hold until Beijing in 2008. The crew, however, named their boat for Athens Alex Partridge — so that he would cross the line first, so to speak.

Partridge was born in San Francisco, where his father was working in the oil industry, and he